The Reading Room

Mithrandir

7:02 PM

I wonder when that moderator nomination post will go up.

Benjamin

@Mithrandir A week after we go public probably.

Mithrandir

@Benjamin iirc of started before the public beta.

Rincewind

@Benjamin No.. lol a while back when I first joined @steelersquirrel and @Skooba "adopted" me into the SFF stacj exchange family along with @Himarm @foxchan and @mannlymann

DJMcMayhem

@DJMcMayhem It's just off-topic for the Literature SE. This SE isn't the place to post such questions, hence my VTC. — TheBitByte 2 mins ago

What the heck?

HDE 226868

@DJMcMayhem wat

Benjamin

7:17 PM

@DJMcMayhem What question was this about>

@Mithrandir I think @Randal'Thor Said otherwise.

DJMcMayhem

> The answer is no, therefore your question is off topic.

Benjamin

@Rincewind Oh, okay, I thought it was one huge coincidence.

DJMcMayhem

Makes perfect sense

Himarm

im the fun drunk uncle all the kids like, but will probably die young from liver failure

DJMcMayhem

18

Q: Should we allow questions about religious texts?

Science-Fiction & Fantasy has a policy of excluding all religious texts. This makes sense because SFF is about fiction, and stating that a particular religious text is fictional is pretty offensive to those who believe it. However, I feel like we are in a slightly different situation because our ...

Benjamin

7:18 PM

@DJMcMayhem Could you give some context to this?

Rincewind

@Benjamin nooo... just crazy e-family stuff

:)

Riker

hello

Benjamin

@DJMcMayhem So, what was @TheBitByte saying?

Rincewind

@Riker Hello

Riker

hello rincewind

HDE 226868

7:19 PM

@Benjamin Do read the comments there.

DJMcMayhem

The comment chain explains it better than I could

Benjamin

Will do.

Hey @Riker

Riker

@Benjamin TL;DR: "I think religious questions should be off-topic on main, so I'm voting to close this meta post."

and then DJ and HDE replied with "uhhhh then post that as an answer don't try to close the meta"

DJMcMayhem

Well also his arguments don't make any sense and have been perfectly addressed by me and hde

Benjamin

@Riker Yeah, I read it and responded it doesn't make sense, but we shouldn't be concerned, we have the votes to reopen it.

Riker

7:21 PM

@DJMcMayhem do you remember him from PPCG? I think he's just trolling

Benjamin

@DJMcMayhem He doesn't even really seem to have arguments.

DJMcMayhem

@Riker unfortunately, yes

Riker

yeah but I think he doens't have a point

I think he's just trying to provoke people

Rincewind

@Riker How this going?

Riker

writing an answer about hebrew pronounciation <shrug>

Benjamin

7:23 PM

@Riker I have flagged him.

Riker

that's not what flags are for...

flags aren't for "he's being a dumbass" (pardon my french)

they're for "he's being rude, abusive, or completely off-topic"

DJMcMayhem

At some point they are

Riker

not just being wrong

Benjamin

@Riker Yes, and he is being off-topic and trolling.

DJMcMayhem

Being wrong is different than being wrong and inflammatory.

HDE 226868

7:25 PM

@Benjamin At this point, I'd hold off on the flags.

Riker

@Benjamin do you have actual confirmation he's trolling though? I definitely think he is, but suspicion != evidence

Benjamin

@HDE226868 He is clearly off-topic, so I just went ahead and raised one. The mods can look into it.

HDE 226868

Nobody else is going to vote to close the question.

His vote will age away.

Riker

<shrug>

Benjamin

@Riker I don't care, he is being off-topic by discussing something that the question isn't about.

@TheBitByte, want to come here and talk this out?

Rincewind

7:26 PM

@Riker ... that sounds complicated. Translations can be difficult

Riker

<shrug> I asked mith earlier and he's a native speaker so

@Benjamin he is discussing something on-topic, even though his logic makes no sense

DJMcMayhem

@Benjamin he is currently suspended from chat, so probably not

Benjamin

@Riker But, he is approaching it in an off-topic way.

Riker

there's no off-topic way for that

Rincewind

@Riker Cool

Riker

7:27 PM

@DJMcMayhem what'd he do this time?

Benjamin

@DJMcMayhem Oh, well then my invitation will fall on deaf ears.

Riker

no he'll still get the ping >_>

he just can't respond

techinically it's not deaf ears, just a mute mouth

Benjamin

@Riker I wish I had a star left to star this. Have to get some work done, so bye for now.

Rincewind

Ah... joy, wish more people can with a mute function

DJMcMayhem

> This user has been temporarily suspended by a moderator and cannot chat for 287 days

Riker

7:29 PM

@Benjamin see ya

@DJMcMayhem hahahaha

no offense but I find the "temporarily... 287 days" funny

Mithrandir

@Riker actually it's my second language but whatever

Rincewind

@Riker They should just round it off to a year lol

Riker

it was

he's been suspended for the previous bit

Rincewind

oh dear...

Riker

he was a infamous troll in the codegolf chat and main site

Rincewind

7:32 PM

I see you avatar has taken a painterly turn!

@Riker Tut! how come he hasn't been banned banned?

Riker

he was on PPCG iirc

just this is a diff site

and thus he hasn't been banned here yet

Rincewind

Ahhhh.... I sometimes forget that all the stacks are actually different sites

they just seem all very interconnected and all that

Riker

yeah

HDE 226868

Maybe we can refrain from discussing the issues of moderation of users who aren't present and cannot say anything in their defense?

Rincewind

So... hows the weather?

HDE 226868

7:34 PM

Just saying, this isn't really the kind of thing that builds trust in a community.

@Rincewind Getting colder in my corner of the world. January's always been bitter.

Rincewind

subject changed...

would love some cooler weather

Riker

@Rincewind bad.

very, very, very bad.

Rincewind

Bad to the bone?

Riker

I live in southern california, it's still raining. we're in a drought officiallly

Rincewind

lol

Riker

7:36 PM

flash flood near me yesterday

sooo

DJMcMayhem

@Riker I don't think so

@HDE226868 Sorry, you're right

Riker

@DJMcMayhem I thought he was for a bit but whatever

yeah I'll stop mentiioning that

Rincewind

@Riker water good?

Riker

no

Rincewind

Bright side to it all?

Riker

7:38 PM

no gut

see "flash floods"

Rincewind

No more drought?

We had a flood somewhere here to, rained suddenly and a number of roads were washed out

DJMcMayhem

It's as dry as usual here in Colorado

Mithrandir

How did I do with that meta comment? Did I accurately express the point?

Riker

link?

DJMcMayhem

Although it's unusually warm right now

Mithrandir

7:41 PM

@TheBitByte what we are trying to say is that even if the questions about religious texts are off topic on the main site, a vtc on the meta post discussing it is not how you say that. You don't VTC the meta question discussing it, you might VTC a question on the main site about it, but not the discussion. Meta is exactly for discussions like this, so your VTC makes no sense. Policy is not decided by vtcing meta posts; it's decided by adding answers and people voting. — Mithrandir 3 mins ago

Riker

well it has 3 upvotes, 1 of which is mine

good comment

Mithrandir

Thanks :)

Riker

:-D

imma go the way of the rand and try adding - to my smileys

:-P

Mithrandir

I only do that when my phone automatically fills them on

(^_-)

Riker

o—O

Mithrandir

7:46 PM

;-)

Riker

:—)

:———————ok that's the last smiley I promise———)

Mithrandir

How's that sesame seed answer going?

Riker

almost done

it's actually fascinating

TL;DR: french dude made up the ali baba story and pretended he found it in syria

way after the first edition of 1001 nights

Mithrandir

Fascinating.

Riker

that explains why סיסמה for password became "sesame"

Mithrandir

7:48 PM

</spock>

Riker

and why the brother guesses other grains

because why would he guess grains if the password was literally "password"?

Mithrandir

סיסמה

But someone else just posted an answer

Hurry with yours!

Riker

0

A: Origin of the phrase "Open Sesame"

Most likely from the Hebrew word "סיסמה", which translates to "password". The pronunciation of the word out-loud is (approximately, going off information a native speaker told me) "seez-ma" or "sees-ma". Now this begs the question: In the story, Ali Baba's brother became trapped in the cave a...

woah

I just finished mine also

mine is better I think, that doesn't explain much

@Mithrandir feedback?

Mithrandir

@Riker needs some more sources and maybe find something about Arabic

Riker

will do

Bookworm

8:12 PM

0

Q: Meaning of this line in "On seeing the Elgin Marbles"

And each imagined pinnacle and steep Of godlike hardship tells me I must die The "pinnacle and steep" represent the pillars of the Parthenon if I'm not mistaken. But the next line doesn't make sense to me. How can the pillars be of godlike hardship? Also, why are they imagined? I feel...

poetry john-keats

Benjamin

8:23 PM

If I wrote and published a novel, could I ask and self-answer questions about it?

Or would that be bad form?

Mithrandir

@Benjamin I wouldn advise asking, but answering would be fine.

Benjamin

8:49 PM

@Mithrandir Yes, but I am not sure, if others would have read it, so that way I would have questions to answer about it. What about asking others to ask questions about it?

Mithrandir

@Benjamin That's fine. Send me a link and I will read it :)

Benjamin

@Mithrandir Oh, it was just a theoretical novel.

I haven't published anything just wondering because I am working on something right now, to be finished in ten years or so.

Mithrandir

Heh. Same, actually :P

Benjamin

9:04 PM

@Mithrandir Do you write in English?

Mithrandir

@Benjamin yes

I don't write in Hebrew, still not good enough for that :P

Benjamin

@Mithrandir Okay. I have tried to intermingle some of the minimal Spanish and Latin I know into my writing and I am starting to learn German, so that may begin to appear in my writing, but yes, unfortunately, I am now only skilled enough to write in English like you.

b_jonas

9:20 PM

@Benjamin That's still impressive.

Most writers only write in one language.

Mithrandir

"למה אתה עושה את זה לי?" צעק גדר. "כי אני יכול," אמר ליטר, והמשיך...

... That's probably full of spelling mistakes but whatevs.

b_jonas

And most people don't write literature at all.

Mithrandir

I should go to bed, it's almost midnight.

Benjamin

@b_jonas I am not very good at it, I just do it for fun.

Standback

@Mithrandir : Ooh, but you should tell me where your Hebrew's from before you do! :P

Mithrandir

9:34 PM

I live in Israel

Standback

Yay! Likewise.

Mithrandir

@Mithrandir that translates to : Why are you doing this to me?" Yelled the fence. "Because I can," said a liter, and continued

The names got messed up. :/

Standback

(I am in a fugue state wherein the idea that 11:35pm is a good time to go to bed does not quite register.)

Mithrandir

Well I'm 14,my parents will kill me

:P

Standback

!

HIDE

...tell 'em Stack Exchange is educational.

Mithrandir

9:37 PM

... They know.

Standback

"Imma, Abba, I'm learning LITERATURE!"

Mithrandir

They'll be like "Yeah, but shul is at 8:30!go to sleep!"

Standback

:P

That is surprisingly good advice. I may take it myself.

G'night! And see you around :)

Benjamin

@Mithrandir That is what I thought. It is weird.

When you play a PBF game and are worried an action will be taken as malice...

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

10:20 PM

Have we banned "lists" from the site already?

Benjamin

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Lists of what?

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Question about Robert Jordan and what genres he wrote and what name goes with them.

Or has Rand already beat me to the punch on asking the question :o)

Benjamin

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 I think he may have, but they haven't been banned yet.

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2

Okay on both ... need to ask before I get slammed for something which has already been poo-poo'd

Bookworm

11:11 PM

0

Q: In Foucault's Pendulum, which names are allusions to the real world, and which are not?

Foucault's Pendulum has a litany of character names that intrigue me. I wonder where many of them come from. For example, Casaubon, the name of one of the main characters, seems like it comes from Isaac Casaubon, a French philosopher. While I'm having trouble drawing overall thematic connections...